The night began with Nuggets coach George Karl insisting his young point guard, Ty Lawson, would not repeat the 43-plus minutes he played at Miami on Saturday.

Lawson made sure that statement never had to be tested as his hot start sparked the Nuggets' 123-90 rout of Toronto on Monday at the Pepsi Center.

For a while, it was a case of: How could Karl keep him off the court? Lawson could not miss early on. The basket was a magnet for his jump shots. No shot was out of his range — and that extended to his teammates.

"I was talking to Coach and everybody," said Lawson, who scored 23 points on only 10 shots. "Throughout the Miami game and Orlando game, they were going under screens and I wasn't shooting. So they were like: 'Shoot the ball.' So that's what I did today, and that's what I'm going to try to do the rest of the season, take more advantage of the shots they give me."

As a result, it ended up being an easy night at the office for the Nuggets, who kicked off a four-game homestand in all kinds of style. Well, there was a slow start, just for nitpicking purposes. The Nuggets turned the ball over seven quick times before quickly righting that ship.

And from there it was nothing but smooth sailing.

"Ty started the game great offensively. We got in a great rhythm," Karl said. "After the first five or six minutes, I thought we made some defensive plays that created some offense. The pace of the game was created most of the time by our defensive plays."

Lawson played all 12 minutes in the first quarter, and then 19 minutes the rest of the game, which was pretty much garbage time from late in the second quarter. Not only were the regulars on target, but others — such as Al Harrington, who had struggled lately — found the range. Seven Nuggets ended in double digits in scoring. They also forced 21 turnovers, leading to 28 points.

The Nuggets are 10-4 since the Carmelo Anthony trade and playing solid basketball at the same time the Knicks are reeling and enduring a different kind of Melodrama — the kind that comes with losing when winning was expected.

The hot Nuggets might begin gaining ground on fourth place in the Western Conference standings. That spot is occupied by Northwest Division- leading Oklahoma City.

Karl, however, is not looking ahead that far.

"I think our goal is to worry about ourselves," Karl said. "We have to continue what we've been doing. We have been getting better on almost a game-to-game basis. We need to build some confidence, some unity and build some flow offensively and defensively."

The Raptors' Jerryd Bayless, right, takes a running shot over Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari during the second quarter Monday at the Pepsi Center. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

None of that seemed to be much of a problem against a leg-weary Raptors squad that had pulled off an upset of Oklahoma City the night before. That snapped Toronto's 14- game road losing streak, but the Raptors didn't seem intent on building on the win in Denver.

Of course, there haven't been many wins in Denver for the Raptors anyway. The Nuggets have won seven consecutive games against Toronto at the Pepsi Center. The Raptors last won a game here in 2003.

Nene had 18 points and seven rebounds, and J.R. Smith had a near triple-double: 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.

"They played last night, won a tough game and traveled here last night," forward Wilson Chandler said. "We just tried to run them, play defense and wear them down."

Nuggets Recap

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